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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Apr 18, 2016 06:00 PM End of the Transylvania voyage
Low-cost airlines start their flights early. It was still dark in Timisoara when my new friend Sorin was driving me throuch the center of the city to the airport. We passed beautifully illuminated orthodox cathedral and opera (sorry Sorrin, I think that it looks better in the night then in the day).
We spent two evenings watching our pictures from all over the world... Thank you Sorin for your invitation and the time we spent together!
Beware of the guys from the security control in Timisoara airport! During last year I passed through security in many airports on 6 continents including USA, Australia, Russia, Germany, but it is hard to believe what they do here! What they are looking for, taking many things out of my backpack? Very rude and incompetent people. They should be trained again.
OK. We boarded wizz air flight to Dortmund, then I was waiting few hours for the connection to Gdansk. Sorry, no free wi-fi in the Dortmund airport... I landed in windy Gdansk before 2 pm. Only 8 deg Calsius here - in Timisoara I enjoyed summer temperatures.
Another short, but very pleasant and interesting voyage is over... It is time to plane the next one! :)
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Apr 17, 2016 06:00 PM Timisoara in Romania
Timisoara is probably the third biggest city in Romania. I have a pleasure to be hosted here by Mr Sorin from Couchsurfing. He also travelled a lot, speaks fluent English so we have a good time. I tried for the breakfast Romanian zakuska - vegetable pasta eaten with bread.
Timisoara has a lot of parks where flowers and trees are in blossom and three big square with historic buildings. The biggest - Piata Uniri has nice Catholic Cathedral and Serbian Church. Piata Libertatii - old city hall and Piata Victorei opera house on one end and orthodox cathedral on the other. Thich church has extremely ornate ikonostas - - I did not see such a altar in the Balkan. Old trams in the peak hours are faster then smogging cars. The ride on the tram cost 2 lei. During the day it is worth to escape from the crowded streets to the parks. One of them is close to the restored fortress - in the old basion they opened shops and galeries. Nice city! But it is my last day in Romania - tomorrow I am flying home...
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Apr 16, 2016 06:00 PM Hunedoara Castle
Romania has few beautiful castles. Corviv Castle has the opinion to be the most important and most picturesque Gothic castle in this country. To get there I took the bus from Alba Iulia to the city of Deva, overlooked by a citadel built on the high mountain. Bus travel cost me 16 lei. Then from the station square there are frequent minibuses going to Hunedoara. You pay 6,50 lei. Once in unimpressive, industrial town of Hunedoara you have to walk some 2 kms to the castle. It is worth! Corvin Castle is not so big, but really nice - see the picture...
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Apr 15, 2016 06:00 PM Citadel in Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia was founded by Roman Emperors but now it is famous for its citadel, buit by Austrians. It is huge fortress with few ornate gates and lovely promenade outside high walls. Wide terrain of the citadel is housing two cathedrals (catholic and orthodox) luxury hotel, museum, university located in the former palaces and more. For Romanians it is first of all the place, where the act of unification of Romania was signed. The fortress is nicely restored and it is good idea to spend here few hours... Apple trees are already in blossom here, the sun is shining and the birds are singing - I hope that such a lovely spring will come soon also to Poland!
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Apr 14, 2016 06:00 PM Sibiu in Romania
Intercity bus travel in Romania is provided by many small companies so foreign tourist has a problem to manage. But I discovered very useful web page to check almost every intercity connection. Try www.autogari.ro it is updated and you will find also there reservation phone numbers. The only problem is that this help desk as a rule do not understand any foreign language so you have to ask you Romanian friend to make the booking for you.
Today I spend 3,5 hours in the bus traveling from Cluj to Sibiu. Ticket cost me 35 lei. Sibiu is well-known historic town, also the informal capital of German minority in Romania (yes, they have Grermans here since ages). The old part of the town is very compact - located on the hill with 3 elegant squares filled with old achitecture. Squeres architecture is renovated and bright, but in the side streets hundreds of stylish houses are waiting for restoration.
I took city bus no 13 to get to ASTRA open air folk museum. Before boarding the bus you have to buy a ticket, ot better two in the vending machine - it will cost you 1.50 lei each way. From the last stop there is like 200 m to walk to the gate of the skansen. They brought from the whole province, windmills, watermills, ferries, workshops, wooden churches and plenty of different stylish houses. It is worth to see. I paid 3,50 for discounted ticket. The only problem was that all those buildings were closed, so you cannot see what is inside. Maybe because it is not a tourist season yet...
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Apr 13, 2016 06:00 PM Cluj in Transylvania
After 3 hours drive in the public bus (ticket costs 28 lei) I am in Cluj - Napoca - historic city founded by Roman emperor. Cluj is famous for its universities (a lot of students in the streets) and many monuments. I enjoyed rich interior of Franciscan church and ornate opera house. They have here very strong Hungarian minority and you hear Hungarian language on the streets very often. That's because before WW1 whole Transylvania was a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire. I had a pleasure to meet here new friend Florin - he lives here since years and he explained to me the present situation. He also gave me a chance to taste traditional local dish - mici (mititei) - a kind of fried meatballs. Thank you Florin!
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Apr 12, 2016 06:00 PM Oradea in the sun
Last time I have been to Romania in the communist period, some 40 years ago, so everything is new to me... People do not smile... But Oradea is very nice and partly restored. Union Square with its palaces and churches is the highlight of the city - see the picture.
They just finish the restauration of the fortress built by Austrians. I took a long walk along the picturesque river to go to the northern bank where is located Republic Street - the main street of the old part of the city. Ornate theatre building is worth to photograph, but many palaces from the Austrian period are in ruin. On the left side of the theatre there is very helpful tourist information office - the distribute the maps of the city and can book for you the bus for onward travel. I am going by bus to Cluj-Napoca and there are 3 different bus stations in Oradea!
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Apr 11, 2016 06:00 PM Debrecen - Hungary and onward to Romania
In the heart of old Debrecen you will see huge, yellow Kalvin church. For 600 forints they allow you to climb the tower for the view and the terrace between towers. Behind the church there is museum and old collegium. In front of the church is the Kossuth Square – lovely pedestrian zone where I was enchanted by the fresh green of the spring and thousands of tulips. There are more streets in the old town closed for the car traffic. St Anna catholic baroque church is worth a visit, they have also nice theatre from the beginning of 20th century.
In the afternoon I took the Eurolines bus through the border to Romania. In fact it was the minibus. We were driving by windy country roads. At the border crossing Romanian officers collected ID and we were waiting some 20 minutes to be released. It is only 8 kms from the border to Oradea – the capital of Crisana province. On the southern side of the river near the fortress I found my rustic Gobe Csarda – lovely inn where a single room with bath costs only 80 lei… Lovely place to stay!
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Apr 10, 2016 06:00 PM I am flying again!
Early spring works in my Wojtkowka are done so I decided to use cheap flights to travel to the new destinations in Europe. Low-cost airlines offer really good fares. All you need to do is to browse their websites, check the pricess day by day and -if you are flexible you will find something inexpensive to the interesting destination. I decided to visit Debrecen in the south side of Hungary an then - Romanian Transylvania. First from Gdansk I took Wizzair flight to the north - to Malmo in Sweeden, and now I am waiting for the wizz directcflight to Debrecen/ Hungary. Sleepy Malmo airport is very clean and they offer free internet acces. If you have boarding pass printed from online check-in there is no need to go out of the transit zone and enter the waiting room again...
From Malmo to Debrecen we wre flying only 1, 5 hours squeezed in the the full plane. Then I saw the green (more green than in Poland) fields an we landed in the little, empty airport. In the past it was military airport - I saw a row of solid shelters for the combat planes. The terminal was empty and poor. They annou ced on the website that city bus is departing from the airport to the station after each arrival of the plane. The bus stop is not easy to find. It is in the car park, some 80 m from the terminal exit. I was waiting there more than half an hour with other people because the previous bus departed before the scheduled time (it is very common in this part of Europe). I paid 400 forints to the driver and after 15-minutes ride I reached Debrecen - second big city in Hungary.
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Apr 02, 2016 06:00 PM Giving lectures in Szamotuly
From time to time I am giving lectures about my travelling, about countries of the world and how to travel on a cheap.
Today I took a train to Szamotuly - little but charming town in central Poland. Local Curtural Centre invaited me to talk about my voyages to the seven continents. The big hall was full of people and everything was perfectly organized. It took me 2 hours to go through the slide show and to answer many questions. Many people bought my book, asking for the dedication of the author. It was a pleasure and satisfaction for me... And I earned some money for the next air ticket :)
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